Have used the CrankIR from several types of inland locations and it works pretty well as a portable vertical, using just the one elevated radial. Near the seashore anticipate improved low angle performance.

It is easy to tune and handles KW power.

Plan to do some testing with additional radials (elevated).

There is a hard case made by HPRC (Italy) Model 6200 that fits the SteppIR carry-bag perfectly. This case makes transporting the CrankIR as checked baggage easy, with a bit of room to spare for accessories and lightweight coax. There's a photo on the QRZ page.

I purchased this antenna a year or so ago to use during some back and forth trips to KH6. Had an old 4BTV in KH6 but wanted something that might be more flexible. Still have visions of schlepping it up Mauna Kea one day.

In spite of lots of adjusting, fussing with radials, etc could not get it to work. Couldn't even tune it with antenna tuner. Was ready to sell it...figuring it was my ineptitude with antenna work...at least lately. Recently we moved back permanently to KH6 and I was in need of something until a better radiator could be found. This time I used an antenna analyzer....not sure how I made it 40 years as a ham withou t one...duh. Anyhow, tuned just fine on 20 meters. Couldn't do much good on other bands, but attribute that to radial length....have 20 meter radials on the antenna. Suspect if I adjusted these, it would resonate on other bands. Even set on 20 meters I can use my internal antenna tuner to use the antenna on 40 - 15 with decent SWR. Been working primarly CW, horrible noise level (commercial area), but still have worked about 16 new entities.

Bottom line....it is a wire vertical. Works with patience and adjustments of the length AND radial adjustments. Very portable and certainly better than a Buddy Pole or other shortened antennas (have used those too).

If you are highly technically competent you'll likely have an easier experience.

I'm an owner of a BigIR....this is a fabulous antenna and has reasonable stealth potential if you have trees to hide in :)

I have had the opportunity to set up and use the Crank IR for over 2 years now. My home was the ground base for the 2015 Willis DXpedition and the 2017 Mellish Reef DXpedition. I was lucky to have Adam an expert on the Crank IR, and a SteppIR man on the Willis effort.
So I have my own Crank plus have seen approx 20 hams trained on the in initial setup and use including the counterpoise heatshrink setup.
You do need to carefully read the manual (which I agree could be better and more up to date) than the actual antenna and the frequent tension adjustment is a little painful( but unavoidable if you think about it) but becomes second nature after a few tries.
The antenna is simple in electrical principle BUT the mechanics make the Crank IR what it is, a beautiful piece of engineering that simply works well. It packs up into a small carry bag and is quick and easy to setup. The presets heat shrink markings are always very close to the mark even in differing situations.

I bought this antenna after using a Buddipole and was tired of using my Antenna Analyzer every time I made a band change. The Crank IR I thought had a LED that measured proper SWR. That's what there literature says and there Adds say. I was told when I called them that this feature was removed and there is now heat shrink tubing premarked on the Vertical portion and I would need to mark the radial section using my Analyzer. I was also told that I should order the 80M version as it works better on 40M and to get the heavy Tripod.

It's been 2 months since I 1st started testing out the Crank IR and Hurricane IRMA has taken out some of my dipoles so the Crank IR has gotten some great testing and use.

It's a very simple antenna design 1/4 vertical dipole is all it really is. The Crank portion can be a bit tricky when putting it away. Most tangles occur then but you don't know it till the next deployment.

The Heavy Tripod is not necessary and it's extra height is not needed just get the regular one you also can't adjust a individual leg for uneven terrain another negative.

The 80M extension basically gives you an additional 6 feet it's much heavier then the regular mast but it's very solid.

I have tested the Crank IR from 80M down to 10M and it's fantastic getting a low SWR under 1.3 is not a problem sometimes on the entire band.

The Antenna is no longer copper wire not sure what it is looks like stainless I took my time using my Rig Expert AA600 setting up the Radial on Band centers for lowest SWR since this was done a Analyzer is no longer needed another plus.

Deploying the Antenna for 20M is fast 40M to 80M takes a bit longer and you can fold back the Radial if you don't have ground space for it.

SteppIR manuals are not up to date and not written well but there product quality is the opposite it's excellent.

The Crank IR I received indicated that about only 450 of these antennas are made. It can also handle lots of wattage

If the manual was written better and crank tension didn't need constant attention when deploying for band changes I would give it a 5.

Live from Field Day 2017 Kansas, this year I trekked from my native nw Washington to a little town of Fowler, KS (near Dodge City) for field day. I have to honest as a EMC engineer by profession I had my doubts about this little antenna. Very quickly I was eating crow. From the middle of the US I was able to hold and command a 40M frequency with the band open to both coasts. 1 qso would be east coast and next would be west coast - literally. Once the band opened to KH6, they were easy-peasy to work, even some JA's as DX. Our primary antenna for 40M was supposed to be a 1/4 wave slopper on 40M, it barely got used.

If you want a full function portable station this antenna is what you need. No coils. Simple design. There is some learning curve, such as learning to guy the mast before setting up the adjustable radial and watching the tension on the cord/radiators, but it is well worth the investment. (Keep some #14 fishing swivels and needle nose pliers on hand.) With 100w I was able to reach all four corners of the US from the Washington coast on 15 through 40m and made contacts in Hawaii and Cuba. All were at least 55 and most were 59. Easy set up. Very portable. Tunes quickly with an analyzer. A tuner is NOT required or desired. In my experience SWR never exceeded 1:1.2 on any band from 10-40M. The higher the mast the better so get the 80m kit or a Jackite pole even if you never operate below 40m. The Jackite won't fit in the carry bag but it is a less expensive option. The 80m kit will fit in the bag and provides more flexibility. I use both masts depending on the circumstance. This is a vertical antenna but unless you have a way to hang an 40m or 80m dipole at an acceptable height go with the vertical.

After using this antenna for the past five months at a temporary location, I wanted to add my positive comment to the others posted here. It's straightforward to put up and take down, it tunes easily, it is well-built, and it works well.

My wife bought me a CrankIR to enable me to operate on holiday in Vanuatu in November 2014. I took it on the plane as carry on baggage and it did not raise any eyebrows with airport security. I erected it (with a few hiccups - you do need to read the manual very carefully !) the day after we arrived on the grass in front of the villa and about 10 metres from the shoreline. Once I had it up properly, its performance was excellent on all bands and I generated worldwide pile ups from 40 through to 10m using just a barefoot K3 at 100w. I also had quite a number of "local" Pacific area QSO's with VK, ZL and FK8 on 6m. I used a Rig Expert AA54 antenna analyser to tune the antenna/radial system to resonance on each band and from my experience, I regard the use of such an instrument to be virtually mandatory, although the antenna does have a rudimentary built in resonance check facility. I was so impressed with the antenna that my wife has now bought me the 80m extension kit. I have already tried this out at home and found it works great. So our next holiday in Vanuatu will include 80m operation - and even with the 80m kit, it will still all fit in the original bag provided and be suitable for carry on luggage. You can see a picture of the antenna set up on my YJ0BJ page on QRZ.com.

I have had the CrankIR a short time now. I set up and tested it at the home QTH during some stormy weather for a few days it has stood up to it just fine.

What really prompted me to write about the CrankIR is I have just done the first trip away with it for the International Lighthouse/lightship weekend (ILLW). We have done these ILLW trips for many years and have carted poles and yagi's with us all over the North island requiring roof racks and trailers. We don't like to compromise performance even when portable. Well this time I took the CrankIR. When I arrived at the site for this year the other team member was already setup with various antenna's. His comment was "Where is your antenna"? I replied "it's in the bag".

To mount the CrankIR I had an umbrella ground screw and a short length of aluminium pipe that gave me 1.5m hight. I also had a couple of bright yellow plastic electric fence pegs that I used to support the tunable radial and a few extra pegs just to warn the radial wire was there since we were setting up in a public area.

I set about putting it up, which did not take long and then run it through the bands with an antenna anyliser just to see how it looked compared to how it was at the home location. An excellent match was easily achived on all bands. The heat shrink markers that I had set on the radial system were on some bands a little off to be perfect but this was expected for a diffent location and still a very good start, often good enough and I did not ever have to vary from the markers set on the vertical radiater itself to get an excellent match on a band. Once I had learned the little variations on the radial for this location, retuning was easily repeatable. The tuning led worked well when I tested it with 5w although was a bit bright to pick the dip at night.

So how did it go on air? In a word. Great! I made a total of 630 QSO's all over the world on various bands with this one antenna. Changing bands was easy enough even at night just using my iPhone as a torch.

So I'm very happy and thinking about all the future trips away with this great performing light weight portable antenna. This has opened up a whole new dimension of ease and flexability with performance for portable operations, thank's to the SteppIR design team for a great concept in portable antenna's.

This is the second SteppIR product I have purchased and I have to recomend SteppIR on been a great company to deal with. Which gives great confidence when purchacing from overseas.